Proper Liquid Diets

Liquid diets are a popular alternative for individuals looking to drop weight in a hurry, as such diets are convenient and relatively simple. Not all liquid diets, however, are created equal. Before embarking on a liquid diet you should fully familiarize yourself with the intended benefits of these plans along with the proper method to do things correctly without suffering from weight loss rebound upon cessation of the liquid diet.

Liquid Diet Users

• Assess whether you are in the intended class of dieters for whom a liquid plan is appropriate before deciding on a liquid diet. Liquid diets are only recommended for individuals who need to lose a relatively large amount of weight--upwards of 30 to 40 pounds or more. The risk with using a liquid diet to lose weight if you are already close to your target weight is that you are more likely to lose lean muscle mass due to the heavy caloric deprivation. Loss of lean muscle mass will have a cascading effect on your metabolism, making further weight loss more and more difficult until you are seemingly unable to continue dropping pounds without resorting to ameliorative measures first.

Proper Liquid Dieting

• Couple strict liquid dieting (utilizing commercial meal replacement drinks recommended by your physician such as Slim Fast or Optifast) with consumption of healthy solid food meals to teach yourself proper nutritional habits that can hopefully help you keep the weight off after the plan has ended. Many liquid dieting plans allow for one solid food meal per day, so you should strive to use that advantage to retrain your body to accept consumption of healthy food items and break your addiction to "junk" foods and other types of empty calories such as sugars, alcohol and processed foods.

  Each solid food meal you have while on a liquid diet should contain a source of lean protein (fresh chicken, beef, eggs, seafood, etc). Note that this means plain meat or eggs--get yourself out of the habit of relying on gravies or condiments to make meals palatable.

  Along with fresh meat, each meal should contain fresh fruits and vegetables as well, along with a source of unsaturated fat. Common sources of unsaturated fat include sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, peanuts, olive oil, and fish oil. Learning to balance your meals in this way while on a liquid diet will make it far easier to continue eating in this fashion after the diet is over, increasing your chances of keeping weight off for the long term, and avoiding the threat of yo-yo dieting.

Warnings

• Note that liquid diets are not meant to be followed indefinitely, but only for several months at a time (12 weeks at most, depending on the amount of weight you have to lose). Consult with your physician about the viability of a liquid diet for your particular situation and ask him to monitor your health throughout your liquid dieting efforts to ensure optimal results. This will help to guarantee results from your liquid dieting efforts while also providing for your long term health.